1880 Famine and Distress in the West of Ireland |
HOME PAGE - Walsh/Langan Introduction |
Ireland saw food shortages in 1879/80. This period of hardship did
not cause the high number of deaths as the Great Famine (1845-1849) and this "famine" was
largely limited to
the West.
The English and American Press covered the story of the 1880 famine in the west of Ireland.
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck "The Distress in the West — THE GRAPHIC, January 24, 1880 1. Picking up a Meal upon the coast and 2. Market sketch in Clifden | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck "The Distress in the West — THE GRAPHIC, January 24, 1880 Bring in Fuel in the Hills near Kylemore | |
"Exterior of a Cabin" From the Distress in Ireland, February 14, 1880, Harpers' Weekly | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
"Interior of a Cabin" From the Distress in Ireland, February 14, 1880, Harpers' Weekly | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
"The situation Explained The Distress in the West of Ireland" From Ireland's Possibilities, February 28, 1880, Harpers' Weekly The well dressed fellow on the right holding his drawing pad in his hand is the artist of the three sketches in the February 28 article including this one. He included himself in this picture and in the picture entitled "An Appeal" (see next picture). Notice that he is wearing an overcoat, while the Irish are more scantily clad. Notice , also, that the men in this picture are all wearing long trousers, not the knee britches shown in some pictures. It is hard to see, but the woman in the pictures is not wearing shoes. | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
"An Appeal" From Ireland's Possibilities, February 28, 1880, Harpers' Weekly In this picture the artist is the fellow with the beard sitting in the car and facing forward. Again notice that the two "gentlemen" are wearing overcoats. The posture of the man in the top hat suggests that even with the overcoat he is cold. Again the Irish are more scantily clad. The little girl on her sister's back is shoeless. | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
"Waiting for the priest" From Ireland's Possibilities, February 28, 1880, Harpers' Weekly In the article accompanying these pictures it says in part "On arriving at the priest's house, we found a crowd of women who had waited for hours. Many of them had trudged from the outlying districts to obtain a little relief."Notice again that these women are barefooted.
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"Their only home" From the Distress in the West of Ireland, March 6, 1880, Harpers' Weekly | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2012, The Graphic, November 27, 1880
EVICTED - THE LAND AGITATION IN IRELAND The Graphic noted that because of the "boycott" and "volcanic condition" of Ireland many landlords were unable to collect their rents and insurance companies refused to insure the landlords against "accidents". | |
"Distributing alms" From the Distress in the West of Ireland, March 6, 1880, Harpers' Weekly | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
Lancers Clearing The Streets of An Irish Town | |
Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, April 1880, collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
"God Bless Poor Ould Ireland" From the Distress in the West of Ireland, March 6, 1880, Harpers' Weekly. Because of the poor economy many Irish were forced to emigrate. | |
"The Distress in the West of Ireland", February 14, 1880, Harpers' Weekly
When I bought images from the Harpers Weekly of February 14, 1880 each image came with a part of the accompanying article. The following is taken from all the bits and pieces. The first part of the article contains a lengthy discussion of long term possibilities to improve conditions in the west, such as turning bog into farm land with long descriptions of how this should be brought about. (I have not transcribed this section because in the long run turning the bog into farmland did not succeed.) This is followed by the following description of Irish farms in the west. "At present the miserable constructions on Irish farms are a source of amazement to a visitor who knows that he is among a people that pretend to live by agriculture. In vain he looks for specimens of the quadrangle straw yard, with surrounding buildings, which distinguishes most English farms. Except on the few large holdings, there are no straw yards at all, and no farm premises beyond the small thatched houses or hovels which are here honored with the designation of barns, cow-houses, and stables- usually joined on to the farmer's dwelling-house, with manure heaped just outside the doors. The one or two cows and their calves on each holding are in the field all winter- a treatment which the mildness of the climate renders possible, though the loss in the milk producing capability of the country from this measure must be enormous. The calves are shut in at night and fed with hay, and they are not in first-class condition in the spring when sold as yearlings to the large grazing farmers. The occupiers could make good use of cattle sheds and food houses if they had them; in fact, improved husbandry in root-feeding and manure-making- the very basis of proper agriculture- is prevented by this pitiable absence of any reasonable description of farm buildings. It is a puzzle how the tenants on hundreds of farms manage to shelter their live stock, including the active well-fed ass which so commonly pulls their little cart to market with produce or turf for sale."After this paragraph there is a discussion of fishing. Unfortunately, there are some holes in the paper and much of this section is torn. The next paragraph deals with emigration and refers to the picture above labeled "God Bless Auld Ireland":
. . . railway station to Clifden is at Galway, a distance of about forty miles, this journey must be accomplished on an outside car. I saw a passenger take his departure one morning for America. A crowd of his friends came to wish him "godspeed," many of them envying him his good luck in being able to get off to the land of plenty. He shouted at the top of his voice, "God Bless poor ould Ireland!" all along the street, and the women wailed in their piteous manner running after the car as far as they could."This is followed by a description the condition of several fishermen. Another section continues: . . . hereditary hatred of England, fostered by his surrounding, he nevertheless looks to that government to protect him form his enemies, and to feed him when he is hungry. An English writer who has made a study of the Irish character paints it graphically but justly as follows:The rest of the article is missing."Litigious, quarrelsome, revengeful, he has his good sides also. Good-natured and sociable and fond of fun, keen-witted and argumentative to the last degree, he enjoys life fairly. Hospitality is still one of his cardinal virtues, and he charms by his pleasant manner the passing stranger with whom he has no business relations. A mass of contradictions, it is difficult to know what pleases him. Hating English apparently with a hatred that can only be expressed by Irish fecundity of invective, he never fails to come to the front when men are required to fight her battles; and revering the parish priest with the awe due to one possessed of supernatural powers, he stops his due, nails up the door of the chapel and boldly denounces his as a tyrant, when he has ventured to oppose any popular sentiment. Lying, when occasions seems to demand it, with a brazen disregard to truth that would have but ANANIAS to blush, he love truth in others, and bears no malice to the adversary who has succeeded by the practice of that virtue. No man on earth respects justice more, or practices it less. He will work day and night to make a man go crooked in his favor, and despise him heartily for having done so; and rending Heaven with cries for mercy and justice from a ferocious government for a starving and helpless people, he sows threatening notices broadcast lest any man should pay his just debts, and as a warning to those who honestly intend to meet their engagements he has maimed and killed cattle of some, fired into the houses of others, in some cases beaten, and in one instance mutilated the man who paid his rent. Like steam, he is a good servant, but a bad master. When disciplined, his brilliant courage has been displayed on nearly every battle-field in Europe and in every country on the face of the globe; and his fidelity was amply proved by that splendid force, the Irish constabulary, at the time of the Fenian rebellion; but at home his moral cowardice and obliquity in matters of social order afford a hitherto unsolved problem in Irish criminal procedure."A single glance at the history of Ireland will show that unthrift and dependence are the very centres of her national life. No amount of suffering and misery has ever taught her the value of economy, thrift, and self-reliance. In the early times, when the sparse population of the country was divided into clans, about seventy in number, chiefs were elected from members of the ruling family. Upon these unfortunate "kern" was helplessly dependent. Until the reign of JAMES I the lower orders of Irish had no legal tenure, no freehold property. Dr. O'CONNER tells us that they were worse off than the Negroes in the West Indies. "Their haughty chiefs could punish them at pleasure, by coigne and livery, by cosherings, cessings, cuttings, tallages, spendings, etc., and even by death." |
"Irelands Possibilities", February 28, 1880, Harpers' Weekly The article describes a visit to the west coast parish of Clifton by the artist of the sketches published on February 28. It quotes from the artist as follows One man, the orator of the sketch, was a basketmaker. He could earn at the most ninepence a day. He was the sole support of a partially paralyzed father, a mother who had been bedridden for years, and a sister. I visited their cabin, and it was as neat and tidy as such a place could be made. The man spoke intelligently, but misfortune had soured him. It was pointed out that public works would best meet the present evil. There is, however, a great horror of drainage or improvements undertaken by the landlords. "They will only raise the rints," already too high for the tenants to drag from the unwilling soil. In driving along the roads we were met by appeals from men and women, too evidently in earnest. The children in one place had just enjoyed the luxury of a meal of "stir-about." One little fellow was very proud of the distended stomach he had gained thereby. On arriving at the priest's house, we found a crowd of women who had waited for hours. Many of them had trudged from the outlying districts to obtain a little relief. The private means of the clergy are all exhausted; but on this occasion, through the kind help of some unknown friend, the hearts of the poor creatures were made glad by the gift of half a hundred-weight of meal each. It is some weeks since I sketched this scene. The poverty had greatly increased since then. The priest now writes to me:"for God's sake, leave no stone unturned to send us help. There is no doubt that kind sympathy and ready help now will heal an old wound."The end of the article is missing. |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
The State of Ireland---Evicted March 20, 1880, Illustrated London News | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck | |
Irish Sketches: A Fisherman's Cabin In Connemara March 13, 1880, Illustrated London News | |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2012,
unknown publication 1880 THE UNITED STATES SHIP "CONSTELLATION" TAKING IN SUPPLIES FOR THE STARVING PEOPLE OF IRELAND In March 1880 the Constellation carried more than 2,500 barels of potatoes and flour to Ireland. The Duke of Edinburgh inspected the ship upon her arrival in Ireland. In addition to the achievements of private charity, an official mark of sympathy from the Government of the United States must not be overlooked, who, fol- lowing the remarkable precedent of the "Jamestown" and the "Macedonian" in 1847, commissioned the United States frigate "Constellation " (Captain Pottee) to proceed to Ireland with a cargo of relief provisions. The Lord Mayor of Dublin and Mr. W. Lane Joynt, D.L., were deputed by this Committee to welcome the representatives of America upon their arrival at Cork Harbour; and it may be hoped that the cordial, and even enthusiastic attentions paid throughout Ireland to the officers of the " Constellation,"Ñ(in whose honour the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress gave a great ball in the Mansion House, and whose commander, as representative of the United States, was invested with the freedom of the city of Dublin),Ñhave been accepted, as they were intended, as some slight tokens of the profound gratitude with which all ranks and classes of the Irish people were inspired by the unexampled generosity of America.Phil Gilson of Brooklyn shared the following related web sites, May 2012: Report of the Commander of the Relief Ship Constellation | |
WALSH/LANGAN INTRODUCTION Land Issues | |||
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